


The Missing Manuscript

by DesertVixen



Category: Poirot - Agatha Christie, The Mummy (1999)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen, House Party, Poirot exposes fakers, Post-The Mummy, Pretend the sequel never happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:21:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26058652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: The O'Connells meet Poirot at a house party...
Relationships: Evy Carnahan O'Connell/Rick O'Connell
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30
Collections: Crossworks 2020





	The Missing Manuscript

He hated house parties and wasn’t quite sure how he had gotten talked into attending this one. 

Rick O’Connell sighed, and glanced across the room where Evy was admiring her new dinner dress, a slinky gold-tinted ivory that made her tanner-than-fashionable skin glow.

That was how he had gotten talked into this. Evy had asked. She had asked very nicely, and a man could only take so much. 

Lord Emerson had a respectable collection of Egyptian artifacts, and he had invited Evy to come study one – a manuscript that possibly referenced a copy of the Book of Amun-Ra. They both thought it was unlikely that another one existed, beside the one that was buried at Hamunaptra. But she had wanted to see – and maybe prove someone was being foolish, so they had come.

Lord Emerson also enjoyed bankrolling expeditions, which should have warned Rick that he was going to be seeing his brother-in-law Jonathan. If he had realized that, he might have been able to resist Evy, even if she asked very very nicely. Jonathan had a tendency to get into trouble, the kind of trouble that involved gunshots and gambling and required rescuing.

Although, Rick conceded, a little trouble might liven the party up. The first night had been excruciatingly boring. They’d played bridge, and there had been not a hint of Egyptian artifacts. 

Lord Emerson had told them that he had invited some more people to join the party, and so Rick was not surprised to come down and find a whole new cast of people decorating the drawing room. He recognized a few of them – explorer types, disreputable types – who all seemed as uncomfortable in their fancy suits as he was.

One man, however, seemed very different. He was a short, dapper man with green eyes like Egyptian cats, and a somewhat egg-shaped head. Every movement was precise, and he spoke with a foreign accent as he lifted Evy’s hand to his lips.

“Madame O’Connell, good evening.” He turned to Rick, and gave him a precise nod. “M. O’Connell, good evening. My good friend Captain Hastings and I have enjoyed reading the accounts of your experiences in Egypt. I am Hercule Poirot.”

He said nothing more, as if it was inconceivable that they did not know who he was, but the name meant nothing to Rick. Then he was moving on, greeting Lord Emerson effusively.

“Who was that?” Rick said softly.

“I think he works with papyrus fragments?” Evy replied. “I’ve heard the name before, but I can’t remember just where. He looks rather like a hairdresser.”

“Evy! Rick, old chap!” They turned as one to see Jonathan, with a stunning blonde woman hanging on his arm. 

“Jonathan!” Evy gave him a sisterly embrace. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?”

“Beryl, love, this is my sister Evelyn O’Connell, and her husband Rick. This is Beryl Shelley.”

Beryl gave them a smile. “Your brother was just telling me about his fascinating adventures in Egypt.”

Rick watched them walk off, and then muttered, “I bet he makes himself sound good.”

Evy rang her hand along Rick’s arm. “Let’s go enjoy dinner.”

*** 

Dinner was excellent, although Rick had to spend more time than he liked talking with their host’s spinster sister, watching one of the disreputable types chatting up Evy. It seemed like an eternity before Lady Emerson stood to signal that the women should leave the table – not that the talk among the men was any better.

Finally, finally, they were back in the drawing room with the ladies. Lord Emerson had promised to bring out some artifacts to entertain his guests, and there had been no mention of bridge.

“I’ve been robbed!” Lord Emerson burst back into the drawing room, a frantic look on his face. “The Amun-Ra manuscript is gone!”

There was a rustle throughout the people in the drawing room, and Rick was surprised to see M. Poirot step forward.

“Lord Emerson, perhaps I could be of assistance.” He spoke with an air of assurance that made Rick think that Evy had been wrong. This man was not a papyrus expert or a hairdresser.

“Monsieur Poirot, I’d be incredibly grateful if you would investigate,” Lord Emerson told him.

*** 

Rick and Evy were left towards the end of the interviews. Poirot had examined Lord Emerson’s safe and the room it was in, then had begun questioning the guests in the empty dining room.

“You don’t suppose Jonathan had something to do with this?” Rick murmured to Evy.

She shook her head. “Getting into safes isn’t in his line of work.”

He had to concede that she was right. If it had disappeared out of a pocket during a poker game, it would have been much more likely that Jonathan was their man. 

When they were called in, Poirot sat at the table with some papers in front of him. He stood, waiting for Evy to take her seat.

“Madame O’Connell, I understand from Lord Emerson that he had invited you specifically to look at the missing manuscript.” 

“Yes. I had hoped to look at it yesterday, but we had bridge after dinner instead.” 

“Could you explain why this particular manuscript is so valuable?” Poirot leaned back, and Rick enjoyed the animation in his wife’s eyes as she leaned forward. The poor man didn’t know what he had unleashed, he thought.

“It is believed to detail the location of a second copy of the book of Amun-Ra. Aside from the scholarly value that such an item would have, the book is made of solid gold. Not that all knowledge isn’t valuable, but the average person likes their treasure to be a little more tangible.” 

Rick wondered if Poirot caught the slip of Evy’s tongue there. She really should have said that book was believed to be made of solid gold, since no one alive besides the three of them knew that the book was real. Evy had held it in her hands, but Jonathan had lost it as they fled Hamunaptra. Probably for the best, but still a loss. 

“Knowledge is a treasure. On that, you and Poirot are in agreement. Let me ask you this. How difficult would it have been for you to determine if the document was genuine?”

“Fairly easy, I think,” Evy answered. “Lord Emerson seemed sure of the document’s provenance however.”

“And he invited you, yes? You did not, perhaps, suggest it to him?” Poirot’s eyes twinkled.

“He invited us,” Rick interjected. “He seems to enjoy having a crowd, and not all of his guests are trustworthy.”

“You have the eyes that notice, M. O’Connell. Not everyone in this house is trustworthy.”

*** 

They came down for breakfast the next morning. It had not escaped Rick’s notice that no police had been called.

“With the manuscript gone, how long do we intend to stay?” 

Evy turned to smile at him. “I suppose there’s not much point in staying. We aren’t intending to join an expedition this year, or mount one of our own.”

The morning room was fairly empty, although a sumptuous breakfast spread was laid out. As he poured coffee for Rick, tea for Evy, the butler informed them that M. Poirot had requested everyone meet in the drawing room just before lunch.

“That was quick work,” Rick said cheerfully. 

*** 

When they were all gathered in the drawing room, M. Poirot took up a position in front of the fireplace. 

“ _Messieurs and mesdames_ , thank you for giving me a few minutes of your time. Poirot, he is pleased to announce that the manuscript has been found.” With a flourish, he brandished a rolled manuscript, as the crowd gasped.

Then, he turned and tossed the manuscript on the fire. Rick took a firm hold of Evy’s hand, enough to keep her in her seat, to keep her from rushing to save it.

“Are you insane, man?” Lord Emerson thundered. “You had no business destroying my manuscript!”

“And you, Lord Emerson, had no business involving Poirot in your poorly thought-out scene. After examining the safe and the room, and speaking to your guests, I could come to only one conclusion – that you had removed the manuscript from the safe and hidden it.”

“But why would I do that?” Emerson stared at Poirot. 

“Because you know that it is a fake, and that Madame O’Connell would have spotted it immediately. You wanted to get publicity for your next expedition, and what better way than to get people speculating than to hint at a fabulous treasure?” Poirot reached inside his jacket, and took out another roll, handing it to Evy. She unrolled it and let out a laugh.

“This is a forgery, and not even a good one.” Rick could tell she was about to embark on listing the flaws in the document, but Poirot cut in smoothly.

“The only way to avoid being embarrassed by the forgery was to have it disappear,” Poirot told the group. “So Lord Emerson decided the way to make an even bigger splash was to involve Poirot. So you removed it from your safe and hid it in one of the convenient vases. This way no one would discover that you had been fooled.”

Lord Emerson simply stared.

*** 

“It’s a shame about the manuscript,” Evy said as they waited at the train station. “How did you figure it out so quickly, M. Poirot?”

“Madame O’Connell, as your husband said, not everyone in the house was trustworthy. Lord Emerson failed to realize that all the signs would point to him, and assumed he could blame a guest.”

“Throwing the fake manuscript on the fire was ingenious,” Rick commented. 

“I felt it might be the only way to provoke Lord Emerson to admit the truth. I feel sure that he has learned a valuable lesson. It does not pay to trifle with Poirot.”

Evy nodded, and sighed, and Rick knew she was wishing the manuscript had been real. 

As for himself, he was just fine with things the way they stood.

At least this house party had been an entertaining one.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! I love it when Poirot exposes fakers, and I thought a house party was the best way to bring these two canons together.


End file.
